I’d like to hear about (and see) your uncomfortable toilet. :)

I ordered lanterns for my dining room in a reasonable size. I had to wait practically an entire year to receive them and then, when they arrived, they were industrial sized, suitable for lighting up a town square. I know you were looking for successes and not failures, the failures come to mind more quickly though ;-)

WRT family not liking the bookcase you want, I would blithely ignore them- unless it's a really big deal financially or aesthetically. Chances are you have spent more time thinking about this and have a clearer vision. They will come around. Design by committee can be tough.

It's this toilet, maddielee. A comfort height that's anything but comfortable for my short legs. Not to mention the seat itself is made funny in a non-laughing way. :) I'm happy that it's bright white and easy to clean. I'll look into a new seat at some point.

That's disappointing, Rita but also funny? What did you do with them?

So far, I'm ignoring the protests that the bookcase is difficult to use. I'll revisit the solution in a few months. No more energy for it now. :P

I think you have a strong decor success with your new house, Rita. :D What's happening with the furniture, btw?

"WRT family not liking the bookcase you want, I would blithely ignore them- unless it's a really big deal financially or aesthetically. Chances are you have spent more time thinking about this and have a clearer vision. They will come around. "-I must say that's practically word by word how am I..)))

(I didn't do anything this year. At all. And there's so much that has to be done. And 90% of it isn't even decor, it's maintenance and big important projects

Except for ordering fabric samples for reupholstery, with your kind help, 10 or 11 of them-and whatever arrived was great but a miss-and minimum 3 samples didn't arrive at all. btw these, the ones that didn't arrive, were almost 6 dollars a sample. I even don't have it within me to call them and ask "hey..where are my samples?" I'm too tired.

ah. and Ive been hunting a throw pillow..which is of course discontinued, since the old one I ab/use and love, is very very worn..I mean to the extent I'm embarrassed, and I'm not easily embarrassed with worn stuff.

I look on eBay for the exact same one but nothing comes up

I look for similar colors- and nothing really grabs me.

so I took a chance on some other pillow, a totally different one, and it was a mistake-it's wrong for the spot, but I fell in love with it. and now instead of the pillow I need, I have one more pillow that I need less

you probably guessed that it has an animal on it, and I grew too attached to the animal. lol.)

Aw, April, I wish it were all so much easier! Almost as if the stronger our vision for something, the less chance we have of achieving it. Supposed to be the opposite. :D I'm sure your new throw pillow looks just fine in the spot. He probably owns the spot by now. ;-) What kind of animal is it? Please share a picture if you can. :)

I called the company and had them pick them up. I cannot fathom what those lanterns cost. Much, much more than what I paid. You could build a huge play house out of the shipping crates they came in. I wish I had the pictures on my phone, I was too busy laughing and crying over the mix up. My husband took the pictures to text back to the company.

As for the new house furniture, I got the secretary/trumeau, the ping pong table and everything in the entry hall and MBR. Originally we asked for just the secretary, banquette and pingpong table. When I shopped for a replacement ping pong table it was incredibly expensive to find a nice one for a reasonable cost- plus they tended to be either very sporty or super "fancy", so that seemed like a good thing to take from the original. And I like the banquette in the hall- I would never have come up with that- I would have put a bench there- like anyone else would have- and I am pretty sure the banquette with that upholstery would cost a pretty penny. They sold all that stuff for the same price as the secretary (new one, not vintage, vintage is four times more.) When they wanted us to buy everything, they asked for a lot - and then when we asked for a few more things to come closer to them than our original ask- they charged practically nothing- you couldn't spend that little at an Ethan Allen/Thomasville level of store- the two numbers bear no resemblance to one another- it was strange.

I will replace the peacock blue center table with a Biedermeier one, and add a seagrass stair runner with black welting- add my accessories and the entry hall is done.

Just looked at your new toilet- it looks so nice. I am sorry it is not working out for you. Not to get too personal, but I have read on the bathroom forum here that toilets that are too high can cause problems of their own for their users. Some people get a little step stool thingy to put under their feet- the kind form IKEA for children to step on.

No, I put it in a different spot. Same room, same sofa..different spot))

It's a bunny..and we have a young very timid bunny who somehow found our backyard and lives there now..and he looks a bit like this mythical creature..half rabbit- half deer..I forgot the name..and I saw the pillow and was "oh he's just like our bunny!"

I'm not sure I have a picture or access to pictures now..maybe later?

I agree about the vision, I guess..and sometimes one should let go. But probably..not with a fleeting stuff like decor. So many compromises..I want to save for myself a spot where I actually can be stubborn and my 3 year old self..and it will bring no actual harm to nobody.

And the company picked them up and refunded you?! Nice.

Furniture 'package' sounds perfect, Rita. You got the secretary!!! Yay! So happy for you. A Biedermeier table is swoon-worthy. I don't remember the peacock blue table in the entrance but that sounds pretty cool as well. I'm such a sucker for colour.

ETA: Yes, I'd need a step stool with this toilet. It's height discrimination, I tell ya. :P Thankfully, I've another toilet I can use. This new one is in the ensuite so not the "main" one.

April, we have a couple of bunnies in our yard too! They make me squeal like a kid. :)

April, a bunny found your house? How wonderful. I am sure your flower beds are not quite as happy, but a bunny is a very happy creature for me.

Many bunnies find our house, I must say, but this one is kinda of a permanent resident bunny:)

Rita I'm so excited you got the secretaire, and the rest! Hooray! Hooray!

here. now, I feel more positive:)

(I'm also too short for our comfort ..thing. Lol.

we have a normal, "dicomfort" one in other bathroom

but it looks handsome, Tartan. as much as they can be well, elegant?..I think yours is)

I'm sorry about the toilet, tartan, and your lanterns, Rita. About the bookcase, I've learned not to listen to the rest of my family unless they agree with me lol. I've managed to sway my husband to color, and also to prints, though he likes to tell me that certain prints don't go together, when I'm a much freer, more flexible spirit.

But yay for April's bunny and Rita's furniture, esp the secretary/trumeau : ) .

I just wrote on a Gardening forum post where someone was asking where people find larger pots -- several people suggested estate sales, which just aren't a thing around here in such a rural area, sigh -- that I had good luck several months ago at Pottery Barn Canada online. Their large (large enough to hide a small child) Brittany cast stone planters were on clearance for about $40 each, so I bought two, which even with the $20 shipping fee (no free shipping in Canada, ugh) was a deal.

And it's lilac season, so I've been cutting branches and filling the house with them. There's a long lilac hedge just down the road, where there had been an abandoned farm house before the neighbouring landowner who owns the property knocked it down. I have permission to cut their lilacs, which always bloom several weeks before ours do.

My other success, at least so far, was trying to copy a three-year old display I saw at a nearby nursery, where they had a variety of succulents growing in a metal urn. So far so good -- the hardest part was finding a pot to fit inside the urn, so it's easy to move everything indoors in September for over-wintering.

Edited to add: Trying to get some photos added. One worked, now to see if I can the other to post.

Lilacs, how lovely and intoxicating they are. We have wisteria in NorCal and as beautiful as it is, it is not match for lilacs and their heavenly scent.

What a find with the large planter. They will look fabulous with your excellent gardening skills.

Thanks, Rita : ) . I've been reading gardener/landscape designer Tara Dillard's blog for years and also have some of her books, and she is keen on "statement pots" that look good even when they're empty, which in Alberta is a good chunk of the year lol. Nice pots are so hard to find around here that when I do come across something, online or in real life, I buy it. Like the metal urn I found last summer on sale, which I had no purpose for, but as soon as I saw that succulent arrangement, I knew what to do with the urn!

Just saw the picture ... swoon.

Rita, I meant to add, good for you for being persistent with the items you wanted. It sounds as if it really paid off for you.

I'm off to help my husband start to put together my new greenhouse -- hopefully I can add that to my decor successes before too long!

I've been working on an open floor plan redo for about 4 months now. Here's the inspiration photo that I got here on Houzz over a year ago. I loved the way it looked and I had the same dilemma with a very large TV niche. We had an electrician come in and install 3 small recessed LED's. We found the TV console on Craigslist for a 100 bucks! Wall mounted the TV, got a kit to run the wires through the wall at Home Depot, and also purchased the floating shelves there as well. I bought drapes, including an extra one to make a cornice for a very long set of sliders. New furniture, new rug, new tables and lighting. Still a work in progress though...

Better lighting in this one.

Isn't it wonderful when a plan comes together, durango118? That looks great! I hope you're pleased with your efforts for many years to come. Can you tell me about the kit to run the wires through the walls? I've never heard of that before.

Beckysharp, that's just so lovely!! We have a lilac tree in our yard but it's not terribly hardy and I've no green thumb. I envy your talents. Your home is beautiful. The trim...goodness. Would never guess it was a newly built house. I love your curtains, that little table and your yellow walls...everything just sings. I hope you'll come back to post the second pic. :)

If you are looking for some nice planters/containers, we bought these on Amazon, but OMG they sent each one in a separate box. Came home to this below LOL. Oh well, at least no one stole them, and we put the boxes on our Nextdoor for people to pick up since they are always looking for moving boxes.

20 inch planter

16 inch planter

So, yes, we received 4 large boxes x 2 shipments. We have smaller ones we bought at Lowe's, but they did not have the larger ones instore.

It's called "Flat Panel TV Cable Organizer Kit" at Home Depot. It was pretty easy.

Yes!! That's a decorating success, hhireno. Love to hear when something works as advertised.

Thanks, durango. I've been trying to convince someone one that we need to do this but apparently it's too much trouble with studs and whatnot.

Honestly, tartanmeup, it was very easy, as long as you read over the directions from start to finish before beginning. We have studs too. We used a stud-finder. You only need to mark the wall were you need to cut the drywall. We used a very small drywall saw. It's such a nice clean look, in my opinion.

Nice to see things come together and also especially nice to experience some of the camaraderie for those among us who might have a slightly different reality so to speak. Tartan- thank you for starting this thread.

I am sure that it will all work out beautifully for each of us.

durango, that niche looks like it was meant for that. And your Craigslist find is much nicer than the inspiration picture : ) .

tartan, thanks for the kind words. I wish the curtains (from Anthropologie) had a bit more bulk, but that's life. Our "regular" (non-tree variety) lilacs are hardy in our Zone 2 climate, which means down to -40 C/F in the winter. The tree varieties I've seen are good to Zone 3, which isn't quite as bad as what we deal with lol.

hhireno, I love Sunbrella success stories!

Rita in N. Cal. I am just north of Sacramento and I have two lilacs...their bloom is brief, but pretty.

Had lilacs in our yard when I was little. Wish I could have them again!

Well, we bought a new house and repainted every room. I had to choose colors for 12 different spaces before we even moved in...and I’m happy with all of them. I’m actually pretty happy with almost everything we’ve done in this house. I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I know what I like, and I’m confident in executing it, even when it doesn’t follow the supposed “rules” of decorating.

I'd call that major decorating success, Sueb20! Were there any colours you weren't sure about going in but thought "let's take a chance"?

Yes! I picked a couple of BM Color Stories colors that were new to me. Loved them both. I’ll post pics in a bit...

Picnic Basket

Oil Cloth

(Ignore the mess!)

Funny, on my phone the colors look so similar but the oil cloth is a much deeper color IRL. I was never a “blue” person until we moved to this house! Now I’ve got these two and a blue foyer/hall (Quiet Moments, an all time favorite!).

Love your colors Sueb20. I have something very similar in my bedroom and bath. Absolutely adore your wainscoting. Gorgeous.

Love the Oil Cloth color, Sueb20.

What gorgeous lilacs!

The TV niche looks meant to be. Turned out great.

Success stories are always nice to hear about. Helps to offset the "oops!" stories.

Rita, glad you were able to secure the furniture. I really like the MBR furnishings. Do you happen to know more about the loveseats? I have my paternal grandparents loveseat and was going to recover it, but I like the shape of yours more.

I purchased this vintage lamp on etsy back in December. Took to my local lamp shop to have it made into a desk lamp. She did a wonderful job, as usual.

Before pic from etsy listing. This is the front of the lamp, but you can't see the warriors face. Rod was barely hanging on and broken away from the horse.

She had a base made and turned the warrior around. She also covered the hole left when rod was removed, even make a flower that matches the others on the base. I selected a black shade with gold lining. Also had her use a brown cloth covered cord so it doesn't show up as much. Luckily, it even stay just underneath trim detail on the secretary, so it doesn't show at all going to the plug.

Sueb, I remember seeing some of the photos of the house, before during : ) and after, but these are gorgeous. What a beautiful house, and what a beautiful job you've done.

allison, that's a remarkable before and after! Kudos to you for seeing the possibilities and to your lamp shop for executing it.

After working on my greenhouse all afternoon yesterday, I came in to make a quick dinner and then brought in all of my non-hardy potted plants -- including disassembling my succulent urn -- because a quick check of the weather for today included falling temperatures (it's supposed to go down to 4 this afternoon, which is crazy, esp since it was in the high eighties last week), rain, snow, and high winds. I much preferred the idea of moving plant pots without cold, wind and snow lol.

We badly need the moisture so I hate to complain, but in 25 years we haven't had snow in June, though we have had frost once -- I lost all my tomatoes my first summer here, late in the month.

Sueb, those colours are delicious! Picnic Basket looks tailor-made for your trim. I love your wainscotting as well. Beautiful rooms. Allison, what a gorgeous transformation. Looks more like wizardry than lamp shop work. :)

Oh, my, Becky. The weather is so variable these days. We had snow in May this year. (Montreal) Hope you don't lose anything.

Durango, your TV niche turned out so well- the whole room looks wonderful. The TV doesn't dominate all the other furnishings the way you framed it.

Daisy, thank you for the picture of the glorious lilacs! I am not much of a gardener, but will ask about the possibility of planting some.

hhireno, isn't it great when we are right without even knowing it? Love Sunbrella.

Allison, I will call and ask about the love seats. It might take a few days to get to the person who knows. I am tickled you think I chose well. Your lamp is stunning. The base you had made and shade suit it so perfectly.

Sue, your house turned out so well. The colors are gorgeous. And it's always a treat to see your lovely art collection.

beckysharp, I love Tara Dillard too. As for the weather, it really feels like the end of the world sometimes- much too strange.

PS Speaking of the end of the world, if any of you like Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman, Good Omens on Amazon Prime was great fun.

Thank you beckysharp and Rita. No rush on the info.

Sueb, I think the blues are the perfect complement to the wood trim in those rooms, and it's a classic pairing with white. It's as if the house was calling out for blue : ) .

tartan, thank you -- I shouldn't lose anything because all the frost-sensitive containers are indoors now (I left my pots of lettuce, the flowering plum bush the kids gave me for Mother's Day, and the Mayday tree I bought outside because they can all take the cooler weather), and there's nothing up yet in the vegetable garden, which I put in late because my husband didn't get the hardscaping done until a few weeks ago, and no rain until today. Ever since we started getting hail every summer about 10 years ago, I've grown all my tomatoes, eggplants, peppers etc. in large pots/containers in the greenhouse or outside, so they're all portable/movable. I'll still make a sweep around the house and yard after lunch to make sure I haven't forgotten any pots.

Rita, the end of the world is a bit on the nose after hearing about the end of civilization in 2050. All the more reason to focus on our homes and make them bastions of beauty and civility!

Sort of a tangential aside and apologies for the thread hijack, tartan, but for those of us who like to decorate our own homes, has anyone seen Jeffrey Bilhuber's newest book by Rizzoli, "Everyday Decorating"? I was reminded of it by a post yesterday at The Glam Pad blog,

https://www.theglampad.com/2019/06/jeffrey-bilhubers-secrets-to-everyday-decorating-home-tour.html

Andrea at The Glam Pad writes that the book

was designed to serve as the ultimate decorating handbook for those who love to go to Instagram or Pinterest for inspiration and design knowledge. "There are so many awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping design images out there, it’s hard to know what to do with this information overload," he explains. "Seeing a pretty room is one thing, but knowing how to distill what makes that space work and translate those takeaways into your own home is an entirely different matter." In "Everyday Decorating", Bilhuber shares the same nuggets of design gold that he has given his A-list clients...

The book is divided into chapters that illustrate how to make your home more comfortable, happy, colorful, personal, lighter and brighter, charming, and cozy. Using iconic images spanning the breadth of his career, each of the rooms chosen for the book make a statement, and Bilhuber tells us why with practical advice and easy-to-follow tips that will inspire and empower anyone to make enlightened design decisions. Never again will you sit in the middle of a room asking, "How come I have all this nice stuff and I’m still unhappy?" or "Why doesn’t it go together?"

I like his style and I'm always eager to learn more, so I find this description appealing. Will have to recommend it to the library system if they don't have it already, because I like to preview before I buy : ) .

I know he wrote "Jeffrey Bilhuber's Design Basics: Expert Solutions for Designing the House of Your Dreams" about 15 years ago, but I didn't think that was particularly successful, especially for those of us who aren't Anna Wintour.

Thank you so much for sharing this info, Becky. I've seen his book mentioned a few times and I'm immensely intrigued.

Awww, thanks for the nice compliments. We love the house — it’s been almost a year already!

Bilhuber did a YouTube with the Quintessence gals recently. He is selling his house in Locust Valley.